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After the War of 1812, the federal government decided to fortify Pensacola and Pensacola Bay, it built the Navy Yard west of the city in Warrington, starting in 1828 (this was redeveloped in the 20th century as Naval Air Station Pensacola). It completed construction of Fort Pickens in 1834 at the western end of Santa Rosa Island; completed Fort McRee in 1839, and completed redesign and expansion of Fort Barrancas in 1844, to add to defenses.

Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (called the "Gulf oil spill"), the government and BP planned to close the entrance to Pensacola Pass with a floating barrier system in June 2010, to control tidal flow of oil entering from the Gulf of Mexico,[2] the daily high tide was causing oil-contaminated water to enter Pensacola Bay. Such a barrier system is designed to allow boats to travel through Pensacola Pass during the outflowing tide, but to close during the rising tide.

The booming plan was never carried out, the Pass was only boomed for a day due to strong currents which broke the boom. No other plan was in place in areas of less current nor was there a plan to trap incoming oil. Oil product entered the pass.[3]

1.
Pensacola, Florida
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Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, in the U. S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 51,923. Pensacola is the city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which had an estimated 461,227 residents in 2012. Pensacola is a sea port on Pensacola Bay, which is protected by the island of Santa Rosa. The main campus of the University of West Florida is situated north of the city center, the area was originally inhabited by Muskogean peoples. The Pensacola people lived there at the time of European contact, Spanish explorer Tristán de Luna founded a short-lived settlement in 1559. In 1698 the Spanish established a presidio in the area, from which the city gradually developed. The area changed several times as European powers competed in North America. During Floridas British rule, fortifications were strengthened, other nicknames include Worlds Whitest Beaches, Cradle of Naval Aviation, Western Gate to the Sunshine State, Americas First Settlement, Emerald Coast, Red Snapper Capital of the World, and P-Cola. The original inhabitants of the Pensacola Bay area were Native American peoples, at the time of European contact, a Muskogean-speaking tribe known to the Spanish as the Pensacola lived in the region. This name was not recorded until 1677, but the tribe appears to be the source of the name Pensacola for the bay and thence the city. Creek people, also Muskogean-speaking, came regularly from present-day southern Alabama to trade, so the peoples were part of a broader regional and even continental network of relations. The best-known Pensacola culture site in terms of archeology is the Bottle Creek site and this site has at least 18 large earthwork mounds, five of which are arranged around a central plaza. Its main occupation was from 1250 AD to 1550 and it was a ceremonial center for the Pensacola people and a gateway to their society. This site would have had access by a dugout canoe. The areas written recorded history begins in the 16th century, with documentation by Spanish explorers who were the first Europeans to reach the area. The expeditions of Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528 and Hernando de Soto in 1539 both visited Pensacola Bay, the latter of which documented the name Bay of Ochuse. In 1559, Tristán de Luna y Arellano landed with some 1,500 people on 11 ships from Veracruz, Mexico

2.
Bay
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A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, lake, or another bay. A large bay may be called a gulf, sea, sound, a cove is a type of smaller bay with a circular inlet and narrow entrance. A fjord is a particularly steep bay shaped by glacial activity, bays can be the estuary of a river, such as the Chesapeake Bay, an estuary of the Susquehanna River, which is the largest bay in North America. Bays may also be nested within each other, for example, some large bays, such as the Bay of Bengal and the Hudson Bay, have varied marine geology. The land surrounding a bay often reduces the strength of winds, bays were significant in the history of human settlement because they provided a safe place for fishing. Later they were important in the development of sea trade as the safe anchorage they provide encouraged their selection as ports, there are various ways from which bays can be created. The largest bays have developed as a result of plate tectonics, as the super-continent Pangaea broke up along curved and indented fault lines, the continents moved apart and the worlds largest bays formed. These include the Gulf of Guinea, Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Bengal, another way bays form is via glacial and river erosion. A bay formed by a glacier is a fjord, rias are created by rivers and are characterised by more gradual slopes. Currents can make waves more constant, and soft rocks speed erosion, hard rock eroded less quickly, leaving headlands. The Gulf of California is an example of a bay created by plate tectonics as Baja California peninsula moves away from the Mexican mainland, Bay platform Great capes Headlands and bays

3.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St

4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

5.
Florida Panhandle
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Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. As is the case with the other eight U. S. states that have panhandles and these western counties also lie in the Central Time Zone, while the rest of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone. References to the Panhandle may also include some or all of eight counties immediately east of the Apalachicola known as the Big Bend region, the largest city in the Panhandle is Tallahassee, the state capital, population 188,107. However, the largest population grouping is the Pensacola Metropolitan Area with a population of 474,081, the total population of the Panhandle, as of the 2010 Census, was 1,407,925. Earlier designations include Playground of the Gulfcoast and the Miracle Strip and it is usually not considered a part of the Emerald Coast, which lies directly adjacent to the west. It is formed by the junction of several rivers, including the Chattahoochee and the Flint, where the boundaries of Alabama, Georgia, from there, it flows due south to the town of Apalachicola. Interstate 10 is the major interstate highway in the Panhandle, connecting the extreme west with North Florida. Other older east–west routes include U. S. Highway 90, important north–south routes west of the Apalachicola River include U. S. Highway 29, U. S. Highway 331, and U. S. Highway 231, all linking to Alabama and Interstate 65. State Road 20 stretches from Niceville to Tallahassee, the major railroad line through the Panhandle, running from Pensacola to Jacksonville, is owned by CSX railroad. Regional short-line railroads serving the Panhandle are the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway, the Bay Line Railroad, throughout the 19th century, the Panhandle was sparsely populated, dotted in places with small farming communities, none of which had as many as a thousand residents. It was natural for West Floridians to feel that they had more in common with their neighbors in Alabama than with the residents of the peninsula. In 1821, Pensacola was the city in West Florida. In the 1850 census, the population of Pensacola was 2,164. In 1819, the convention of Alabama asked Congress to include West Florida in their new state. In 1826, the Pensacola Gazette published a number of letters advocating annexation to Alabama, in 1840, a public meeting in Pensacola produced a demand that West Florida be united with Alabama. In 1856, advocates of annexation were able to get a bill passed by the Legislature authorizing a referendum on the issue, the Pensacola Gazette reported that annexation is desired by a large majority of the people of the area. In 1858, the Alabama Legislature unsuccessfully tried to open negotiations with Florida on the subject, in that year, the Alabama Legislature approved a joint resolution authorizing their Governor to negotiate with the Governor of Florida about the annexation of West Florida. An offer of one million dollars in Alabama state bonds, paying 8 percent interest for thirty years, was included, both states appointed commissioners to make detailed recommendations on the matter

6.
Gulf of Mexico
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The Gulf of Mexico is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The U. S. states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas border the Gulf on the north, Atlantic and Pacific coasts, or sometimes the south coast, in juxtaposition to the Great Lakes region being the north coast. One of the seven main areas is the Gulf of Mexico basin. The Gulf of Mexico formed approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics, the Gulfs basin is roughly oval and is approximately 810 nautical miles wide and floored by sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U. S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba, with the narrow connection to the Atlantic, the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges. The size of the Gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km2, almost half of the basin is shallow continental shelf waters. The basin contains a volume of roughly 2,500 quadrillion liters, the consensus among geologists who have studied the geology of the Gulf of Mexico, is that prior to the Late Triassic, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist. It was created by the collision of plates that formed Pangea. As interpreted by Roy Van Arsdale and Randel T. Cox, geologists and other Earth scientists agree in general that the present Gulf of Mexico basin originated in Late Triassic time as the result of rifting within Pangea. The rifting was associated with zones of weakness within Pangea, including sutures where the Laurentia, South American, first, there was a Late Triassic-Early Jurassic phase of rifting during which rift valleys formed and filled with continental red beds. Second, as rifting progressed through Early and Middle Jurassic time and it was at this time that tectonics first created a connection to the Pacific Ocean across central Mexico and later eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. This flooded the basin created by rifting and crustal thinning to create the Gulf of Mexico. While the Gulf of Mexico was a basin, the subsiding transitional crust was blanketed by the widespread deposition of Louann Salt. Initially, during the Late Jurassic, continued rifting widened the Gulf of Mexico and progressed to the point that sea-floor spreading, at this point, sufficient circulation with the Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased. During the Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous, the occupied by the Gulf of Mexico experienced a period of cooling. The subsidence was the result of a combination of stretching, cooling. Initially, the combination of stretching and cooling caused about 5–7 km of tectonic subsidence of the central thin transitional

7.
Escambia County, Florida
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Escambia County is the westernmost county in the U. S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 297,619 and its county seat is Pensacola and the County Administrator is Jack Brown. Escambia County is included in the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, the county population has continued to increase as the suburbs of Pensacola and other cities have developed. The area had been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples of varying cultures, Historic American Indian tribes at the time of European-American settlement were the Pensacola and Creek. Escambia County was organized by European-Americans on July 21,1821, after the United States bought East Florida and it was named for the Escambia River. The name Escambia may have derived from the Creek name Shambia, meaning clearwater. Created on the date, Escambia and St. Johns counties were Floridas two original counties, covering the entire territory within modern state boundaries. The Suwannee River was the border between them, which follows a path from the northern border of the state to the Gulf of Mexico. Essentially, the Escambia county government had jurisdiction over the panhandle and big bend areas, as population increased in the frontier territory,21 counties were later organized from Escambia county directly or indirectly. They include Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Walton, Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Calhoun, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Holmes, Liberty, Lafayette and Taylor, Bay, Okaloosa, Dixie, and Gulf. The total number of counties in Florida in 2013 is 67, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 875 square miles, of which 656 square miles is land and 218 square miles is water. The county jurisdiction includes the island of Santa Rosa south of Pensacola, Escambia County is part of the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area. Gulf Islands National Seashore As of the census of 2010, there were 297,619 people,116,238 households, the population density was 449 people per square mile. There were 136,703 housing units at a density of 206 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 68. 9% White,22. 9% Black or African American,0. 9% Native American,2. 7% Asian,0. 1% Pacific Islander,1. 3% from other races, and 3. 2% from two or more races. 4. 7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,28. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the family size was 2.96. In the county, the population was out with 21. 6% under the age of 18,13. 0% from 18 to 24,24. 2% from 25 to 44,26. 8% from 45 to 64

8.
Santa Rosa County, Florida
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Santa Rosa County is a county located in the U. S. state of Florida. As of the 2015 census, the population was 167,040, Santa Rosa County is included in the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Santa Rosa County was created in 1842 and it was named for the Roman Catholic saint, Rosa de Viterbo. Santa Rosa County repealed its prohibition on alcohol in 2007, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,174 square miles, of which 1,012 square miles is land and 162 square miles is water. Choctawhatchee National Forest Santa Rosa County can be divided into three sections, South Santa Rosa, Central Santa Rosa, and North Santa Rosa. The sections are centered on the main east/west roads that pass through the county, South Santa Rosa County comprises the area from Holley and Navarre in the east to Gulf Breeze at the western end of the Gulf Breeze Peninsula, and along U. S. Highway 98. A section of Santa Rosa Island, containing the unincorporated community of Navarre Beach, is part of South Santa Rosa County. Major bodies of water including Santa Rosa Sound, Pensacola Bay and East Bay strongly influence the housing and this fast-growing region serves primarily as bedroom communities for Pensacola to the west and Hurlburt Field, Fort Walton Beach, and Eglin Air Force Base to the east. The U. S. Navy presence is marked by Whiting Field, NOLF Spencer Field, Central Santa Rosa County is the area north of the bays and south of the extensive forests separating it from North Santa Rosa. The central section developed along The Old Spanish Trail that ran from St. Augustine on the Atlantic Ocean all the way to New Orleans, today, U. S. Highway 90 closely parallels the old trail. The county seat, Milton is located where the trail crossed the Blackwater River, interstate 10 also passes through this section of the county. Northern Santa Rosa County is forest and farming country, the only town in the north is Jay. Most development has been along State Road 4 which runs through the sections of Escambia, Santa Rosa. The citizens have, for the most part, returned to farming, State Road 87 traverses the county from north to south, between U. S. Highway 98 and the border with Escambia County, Alabama near Brewton, where it connects with State Route 41. This road is an emergency evacuation route for the county during hurricanes. As such, the Board enacts all legislation and authorizes programs, the Board appoints a professionally trained County Administrator who is responsible for policy and budget development and implementation. The Board comprises five members, elected countywide, each member must reside within particular district for which seat he/she seeks election. Each year the Board organizes itself selecting a Chair and Vice-Chair from among its members to preside at Commission meetings, called meetings and workshops are scheduled periodically and are advertised and open to the public

9.
Santa Rosa Sound
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Santa Rosa Sound is a sound connecting Pensacola Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay in Florida. The northern shore consists of the Fairpoint Peninsula and portions of the mainland in Santa Rosa County and it is bounded to the south by Santa Rosa Island, separating it from the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway between Pensacola Beach and Fort Walton Beach is routed through the sound, the Round The Island Race, an annual 100-mile race for multihull sailboats that circumnavigates Santa Rosa Island, running half of its course through the sound. During strong hurricanes, storm surge elevates the Gulf of Mexico above the islands to the south. Hurricane Opal and Hurricane Ivan caused extensive damage to waterfront structures on both sides of Santa Rosa Sound, the first two bridges have the lowest clearance of any span over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

10.
Barrier island
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Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen and they are subject to change during storms and other action, but absorb energy and protect the coastlines and create areas of protected waters where wetlands may flourish. A barrier chain may extend uninterrupted for over a hundred kilometers, excepting the tidal inlets that separate the islands, the longest and widest being Padre Island of Texas. The length and width of barriers and overall morphology of barrier coasts are related to parameters including tidal range, wave energy, sediment supply, sea-level trends, the amount of vegetation on the barrier has a large impact on the height and evolution of the island. Chains of barrier islands can be found along approximately thirteen percent of the worlds coastlines and they display different settings, suggesting that they can form and be maintained in a variety of environmental settings. Numerous theories have been given to explain their formation, lower shoreface The shoreface is the part of the barrier where the ocean meets the shore of the island. The barrier island body itself separates the shoreface from the backshore, characteristics common to the lower shoreface are fine sands with mud and possibly silt. Further out into the ocean the sediment becomes finer, the effect from the waves at this point is weak because of the depth. Bioturbation is common and many fossils can be found here, middle shoreface The middle shore face is located in the upper shoreface. The middle shoreface is strongly influenced by wave action because of its depth, closer to shore the grain size will be medium size sands with shell pieces common. Since wave action is heavier, bioturbation is not likely, upper shoreface The upper shore face is constantly affected by wave action. This results in development of sedimentary structures because of the constant differing flow of waves. Foreshore The foreshore is the area on land between high and low tide, like the upper shoreface, it is constantly affected by wave action. Cross bedding and lamination are present and coarser sands are present because of the energy present by the crashing of the waves. The sand is very well sorted. Backshore The backshore is always above the highest water level point, the berm is also found here which marks the boundary between the foreshore and backshore. Wind is the important factor here, not water, during strong storms high waves and wind can deliver and erode sediment from the backshore. Dunes The dunes are typical of an island, located at the top of the backshore

11.
Santa Rosa Island (Florida)
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Santa Rosa Island is a 40-mile barrier island located in the U. S. state of Florida, thirty miles east of the Alabama state border. The communities of Pensacola Beach, Navarre Beach, and Okaloosa Island are located on the island, on the northern lee side, of the island, are Pensacola Bay on the west and Choctawhatchee Bay on the east, joined through Santa Rosa Sound. Parts of the island are protected from development within the Gulf Islands National Seashore, Santa Rosa Island was the site of a settlement in August 1559 led by Tristan de Luna from New Spain, considered the earliest European settlement in what is now the mainland United States. Santa Rosa Island was explored by Spanish Conquistadors circa 1519, years later, an expedition led by Tristan de Luna arrived from Vera Cruz in August 1559 to found a settlement. Spanish settlements in the area were abandoned in 1561, following damage from storms, lack of supplies resulting in famine, the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida on the Atlantic coast, established on August 28,1565, has been continuously inhabited since then. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Santa Rosa Island took place here on October 9,1861, confederate Richard Anderson crossed from the Florida mainland onto Santa Rosa Island with 1200 men, in two small steamers, in a failed attempt to capture Fort Pickens. The Union held the fort throughout the war, considering Fort Pickens to be outdated, the U. S. War Department sold Santa Rosa Island in 1929 to Escambia County, Florida, ten years later, the county returned the island to the federal government in the expectation that it would be developed as a U. S. National Monument preserving the remnants of Fort Pickens. The fort and other areas are now preserved within the Gulf Islands National Seashore, on July 8,1950 the federal government conveyed an 875-acre parcel of Santa Rosa Island with 3 miles of Gulf frontage to Okaloosa County. The county paid the federal government $4,000 to complete the transaction, the portion of Santa Rosa Island transferred is now known as Okaloosa Island. The twelve-mile long beach road onto U. S, various military missile launch and test facilities exist on Santa Rosa Island south and southwest of Hurlburt Field. The island has been hit by tropical cyclones, in 1995 it was the landfall point of hurricanes Erin. Hurricane Dennis hit the island in July 2005, and with 120 mph winds, was the strongest storm to do so, tropical Storm Claudette hit in 2009. In 2008-2009, a sunken Spanish ship was located and excavated offshore and these findings confirmed reports of the 1559 expedition by Tristan de Luna, which had established a settlement at Pensacola. One of the missions in the Florida Phase of the US Armys Ranger School is conducted on Santa Rosa Island. com,2008, web

12.
Gulf Breeze, Florida
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Gulf Breeze is a city on the Fairpoint Peninsula in Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States and is a suburb of Pensacola which lies to the north, across Pensacola Bay. The population was 5,763 at the 2010 census, Gulf Breeze is located at 30°21′36″N 87°10′41″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 23.5 square miles. Growth of the city itself is restricted, surrounded by major water bodies on three sides, the eastern portion of Gulf Breeze is occupied by the Naval Live Oaks Reservation. As a result, new growth takes place east of the city limits along U. S. Highway 98. In 1828 the U. S. Government purchased the land encompassing the Naval Live Oaks Reservation for experimenting with acorns for the cultivation of live oaks to produce wooden ships. Currently, the land comprises over 1300 acres in Gulf Islands National Seashore and is supervised by the National Park Service, to the south of Highway 98 is a visitors center for the Gulf Islands National Seashore and several public beach areas. Gulf Islands National Seashore offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida, the protected regions include mainland areas and parts of 7 islands. The Florida District of the seashore features offshore barrier islands with sparkling white sand beaches, historic fortifications. The Gulf Breeze Zoo is a 50-acre site that includes hundreds of animals, the zoo features various events throughout the year including Boo at the Zoo and Zoo Lights. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,665 people,2,377 households, the population density was 1,192.0 people per square mile. There were 2,553 housing units at a density of 537.2 per square mile. 25. 3% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.83. In the city, the population was out with 22. 3% under the age of 18,4. 6% from 18 to 24,22. 5% from 25 to 44,29. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 45 years, for every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males, the median income for a household in the city was $52,522, and the median income for a family was $61,661. Males had an income of $44,408 versus $28,159 for females. The per capita income for the city was $34,688, about 3. 8% of families and 4. 2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5. 5% of those under age 18 and 1. 2% of those age 65 or over

13.
Gulf Islands National Seashore
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Gulf Islands National Seashore offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. The protected regions include mainland areas and parts of seven islands, some islands along the Alabama coast were originally considered for inclusion, but as of 2009, none is part of the National Seashore. The Florida District of the seashore features offshore barrier islands with sparkling white sand beaches, historic fortifications. Mainland features near Pensacola, Florida, include the Naval Live Oaks Reservation, beaches, all Florida areas are accessible by automobile. The Mississippi District of the seashore features beaches, historic sites, wildlife sanctuaries, islands accessible only by boat, bayous, nature trails, picnic areas. The Davis Bayou Area is the portion of the National Seashore in Mississippi that is accessible by automobile. Petit Bois, Horn, East Ship, West Ship, the 4,080 acres Gulf Islands Wilderness offers special protection, within the seashore, to parts of Petit Bois Island and Horn Island, Mississippi. Considerable damage to public infrastructure occurred as a result of storms during the 2004 and 2005 Atlantic hurricane seasons, in subsequent years, infrastructure was fully repaired. All roadways, parking areas, campgrounds, and visitor centers have been repaired and are fully operational, a few trails and associated boardwalks and dune crossovers were still under repair as of late 2010, especially near the Fort Pickens campground. The wilderness area was designated on November 10,1978, four visitor centers, staffed by National Park personnel, are located within Gulf Islands National Seashore. Three are located in Florida, and one is located in Mississippi, colmer Visitor Center,3500 Park Road, Ocean Springs, Mississippi Two developed campgrounds are located in the National Seashore. Primitive camping is permitted in designated areas. Campground fees are posted at the Fees and Reservations website, in Florida, the Pickens Campground is a developed one and provides water and electrical hookups for recreational vehicles and tents. Roads are paved throughout the campground, as well as each campsite, the environment is characterized by sand scrub oaks, small brackish ponds, and a remnant pine forest on a barrier island between Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Central restrooms and showers are available, a campground store reopened in late 2010. There are no sewer hookups at the campsites, however, a station is available. Reservations can be made through the ReserveAmerica website from March through October, from November through February, sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The campground is located approximately 1.5 miles from Fort Pickens itself, in Mississippi, the Davis Bayou Campground is developed, providing water and electrical hookups for recreational vehicles and tents

14.
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway
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The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is the portion of the Intracoastal Waterway located along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is an inland waterway running approximately 1,050 mi from Carrabelle, Florida, to Brownsville. The waterway provides a channel with a depth of 12 ft. Although the U. S. government proposals for such a waterway were made in the early 19th century, the Hathaway Bridge in Panama City, Florida, for example, is at mile 284.6 EHL. The Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge at South Padre Island is at mile 665.1 WHL, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway crosses or meets, and in some cases is confluent with, numerous other navigable rivers and waterways

15.
Pensacola Pass
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Pensacola Pass, separating mainland Florida from Santa Rosa Island, is the mouth of Pensacola Bay. Pensacola Pass forms a water passage that connects Pensacola Bay with the Gulf of Mexico to the south, in the U. S. state of Florida, the surrounding area is heavily developed, with high-rise condominiums. However, there are nearby beach-front parks, with Fort Pickens on the side of Pensacola Pass. Pensacola Pass is the name of the waterway connecting the Gulf to Pensacola Bay, ships and boats use this passage to travel between the two. During the daily flood tide, fresh saltwater enters Pensacola Pass from the Gulf of Mexico, waters are pulled out on the ebb tide, flushing the bay. Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the entrance to Pensacola Pass was closed, with a barrier system in June 2010. The daily high tide was causing oil-contaminated water to enter Pensacola Bay, the barrier system was to be designed to allow boats to travel through Pensacola Pass during the ebb tide, but to close during the rising tide. Although this was the plan, the booming plan was never fully implemented. Due to strong currents in the Pass, the boom broke, there was no alternative system in place in areas of less current, nor was there a plan to trap incoming oil, therefore oil product freely entered the Pass

16.
War of 1812
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Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, but the British often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. By the wars end in early 1815, the key issues had been resolved, the view was shared in much of New England and for that reason the war was widely referred to there as Mr. Madison’s War. As a result, the primary British war goal was to defend their North American colonies, the war was fought in three theatres. Second, land and naval battles were fought on the U. S. –Canadian frontier, Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern United States and Gulf Coast. With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, early victories over poorly-led U. S. armies demonstrated that the conquest of the Canadas would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the U. S. was able to inflict serious defeats on Britains Native American allies, both governments were eager for a return to normality and peace negotiations began in Ghent in August 1814. This brought an Era of Good Feelings in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened American nationalism, the war was also a major turning point in the development of the U. S. military, with militia being increasingly replaced by a more professional force. The U. S. also acquired permanent ownership of Spains Mobile District, the government of Canada declared a three-year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012, intended to offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border. At the conclusion of the commemorations in 2014, a new national War of 1812 Monument was unveiled in Ottawa. The war is remembered in Britain primarily as a footnote in the much larger Napoleonic Wars occurring in Europe, historians have long debated the relative weight of the multiple reasons underlying the origins of the War of 1812. This section summarizes several contributing factors which resulted in the declaration of war by the United States, as Risjord notes, a powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to uphold national honour in the face of what they considered to be British insults such as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair. The approaching conflict was about violations of American rights, but it was also vindication of American identity. Americans at the time and historians since often called it the United States Second War of Independence, in 1807, Britain introduced a series of trade restrictions via a series of Orders in Council to impede neutral trade with France, with which Britain was at war. The United States contested these restrictions as illegal under international law, the American merchant marine had come close to doubling between 1802 and 1810, making it by far the largest neutral fleet. Britain was the largest trading partner, receiving 80% of U. S. cotton, the British public and press were resentful of the growing mercantile and commercial competition. The United States view was that Britains restrictions violated its right to trade with others, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy expanded to 176 ships of the line and 600 ships overall, requiring 140,000 sailors to man. The United States believed that British deserters had a right to become U. S. citizens and this meant that in addition to recovering naval deserters, it considered any United States citizens who were born British liable for impressment. Aggravating the situation was the reluctance of the United States to issue formal naturalization papers and it was estimated by the Admiralty that there were 11,000 naturalized sailors on United States ships in 1805

17.
Naval Air Station Pensacola
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Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola, The Cradle of Naval Aviation, is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits. Because of contamination by metals and other hazardous materials during this history. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps and U. S. Coast Guard, the NATTC facility at NAS Pensacola is also home to the USAF Detachment 1, a GSU whose home unit is the 359th TRS located at Eglin AFB. Detachment 1 trains over 800 Airmen annually in three structural maintenance disciplines, Low Observable, Non-Destructive Inspection, and Aircraft Structural Maintenance. TRAWING SIX consists of the Training Squadron 4 Warbucks, Training Squadron 10 Wildcats and Training Squadron 86 Sabrehawks, flying the T-45C Goshawk, the 479 FTG is a tenant activity at NAS Pensacola and a geographically separated unit of the 12th Flying Training Wing at Randolph AFB, Texas. The 479 FTG operates USAF T-6A Texan II and T-1A Jayhawk aircraft, a total of 131 aircraft operate out of Sherman Field, generating 110,000 flight operations each year. The site now occupied by NAS Pensacola has been controlled by varying nations, in 1559, Spanish explorer Don Tristan de Luna founded a colony on Santa Rosa Island, considered the first European settlement of the Pensacola area. The Spanish built the wooden Fort San Carlos de Austria on this bluff in 1697-1698, although besieged by Indians in 1707, the fort was not taken. Spain was competing in North America with the French, who settled lower Louisiana, the French destroyed this fort when they captured Pensacola in 1719. After Great Britain defeated the French in the Seven Years War and exchanging some territory with Spain, British colonists took over this site, in 1781, as an ally of the American rebels during the American Revolutionary War, the Spanish captured Pensacola. Britain ceded West Florida to Spain following the war, the Spanish completed the fort San Carlos de Barrancas in 1797. Barranca is a Spanish word for bluff, the natural feature that makes this location ideal for the fortress. Pensacola was taken by General Andrew Jackson in November 1814 during the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, British forces destroyed Fort San Carlos as they swept through the area. The Spanish remained in control of the region until 1821, when the Adams-Onís Treaty confirmed the purchase of Spanish Florida by the United States, in 1825, the US designated this area for the Pensacola Navy Yard was designated and Congress appropriated $6,000 for a lighthouse. Operational that year, it is said to be haunted by a light keeper murdered by his wife, Fort Barrancas was rebuilt, 1839-1844, the U. S. Army deactivating it on 15 April 1947. Designated a National Historic Site in 1960, control of the site was transferred to the National Park Service in 1971, after extensive restoration during 1971-1980, Fort Barrancas was opened to the public. Navy captains William Bainbridge, Lewis Warrington, and James Biddle selected the site on Pensacola Bay, Construction began in April 1826, and the Pensacola Navy Yard, also known as the Warrington Navy Yard, became one of the best equipped naval stations in the country. Pensacola Navy Yard was built with enslaved labor, Captain Lewis Warrington The first Commandant of the Pensacola Navy Yard complained to the Board of Navy Commissioners “neither laborers nor mechanics are to be obtained here

18.
Fort Pickens
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Fort Pickens is a pentagonal historic United States military fort on Santa Rosa Island in the Pensacola, Florida, area. It is named after American Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens, the fort was completed in 1834 and remained in use until 1947. Fort Pickens is included within the Gulf Islands National Seashore, after the War of 1812, the United States decided to fortify all of its major ports. French engineer Simon Bernard was appointed to design Fort Pickens, construction lasted from 1829 to 1834, with 21.5 million bricks being used to build it. Much of the construction was done by black slaves and its construction was supervised by Colonel William H. Chase of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. During the American Civil War, he sided with the Confederacy and was appointed to command Floridas troops, Fort Pickens was the largest of a group of fortifications designed to defend Pensacola Harbor. It supplemented Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, and the Navy Yard, located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore from the mainland, Fort Pickens guarded the island and the entrance to the harbor. On the night of 20 January 1858, the USCS Robert J. Walker was at Pensacola when a fire broke out at Fort Pickens. The cutters men and boats, joined by the party of the U. S. Coast Survey steamboat USCS Varina. By the time of the American Civil War, Fort Pickens had not been occupied since shortly after the Mexican–American War. Despite its dilapidated condition, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, in charge of United States forces at Fort Barrancas and he decided to abandon Barrancas when, around midnight of January 8,1861, his guards repelled a group of local civilians who intended to occupy the fort. Some historians claim that these were the first shots fired in the Civil War, on January 10,1861, the day Florida declared its secession from the Union, Slemmer destroyed over 20,000 pounds of gunpowder at Fort McRee. He then spiked the guns at Fort Barrancas, and moved his 51 soldiers and 30 sailors to Fort Pickens, on January 15,1861 and January 18,1861, Slemmer refused surrender demands from Colonel William Henry Chase of the Florida militia. Ironically, Chase had designed and constructed the fort as captain in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Slemmer defended the fort against threat of attack until he was reinforced and relieved in April 1861 by Colonel Harvey Brown. Despite repeated Confederate threats, Fort Pickens was one of only three Southern forts to remain in Union hands throughout the war, Montgomery C, Meigs, an Army engineer, was ordered by President Lincoln and Secretary of War Seward to Fort Pickens. During the war, Meigs would also construct the Washington Aqueduct, captives from Indian Wars in the West were transported to the East Coast to be held as prisoners. From October 1886 to May 1887, Geronimo, a noted Apache war chief, was imprisoned in Fort Pickens and their families were held at Fort Marion in St. Augustine. During the late 1890s and early 20th century, the Army had new gun batteries constructed at Fort Pickens and these batteries were part of a program initiated by the Endicott Board, a group headed by a mid-1880s Secretary of War, William C

19.
Fort McRee
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Fort McRee, was a historic military fort constructed by the United States on the eastern tip of Perdido Key, to defend Pensacola and its important natural harbor. Fort Pickens was the largest of these, very little remains of Fort McRee today. Fort McRee was one of three major installations constructed by the United States to strengthen defenses at Pensacola Bay following the War of 1812 and its construction lasted from 1834 and 1839, the facility was a three-tiered fort and a detached water battery close to sea level. It was located on the tip of Perdido Key on a stretch of beach known as Fosters Bank. It had an unusual shape because of its position on a small. Although the fort was completed in 1839, its 122 guns were not installed until sometime between 1843 and 1845. It is likely many of these guns were not in place for some time due to several issues. Fort McRee was named in April 1840 for Army engineer Colonel William McRee, the first troops stationed at Fort McRee, the men of I Company, 3rd Artillery, arrived on 2 May 1842. These men were joined by E Company, 7th Infantry in July, from this time until October 1845, when much of the artillery unit was ordered to Louisiana, the fort was manned at various levels. After the Mexican-American War was finished in 1848, barracks were built near Fort Barrancas on the mainland, once these were completed, Fort McRee was manned only during drills, maneuvers and target practice. The strength of the entire US Army on 1 December 1853 was reported at 10,417, the other two Pensacola area forts were manned in a similar way until the outbreak of the Civil War. With less than 50 men to all three fortifications in Pensacola, First Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer decided to concentrate his small force in a more defensible location. Over 9 and 10 January 1861, his garrison spiked the guns of Barrancas, the move was a timely one as on 12 January, Florida and Alabama militia arrived and took control of the evacuated fortifications. Over the next months, both sides built new cannon batteries and brought in more personnel. The opposing forces engaged in cannon duels many times but with little effect, near the end of the year, manning stood at about 7,000 men on the Confederate side opposed by 2,000 Union soldiers around Fort Pickens. On 9 October 1861 the commander of Confederate forces in Pensacola, General Braxton Bragg, Colonel Harvey Brown, the commander of Union forces, felt this attack required an answer and planned an attack of his own. Fort McRee, the closest fortification to Fort Pickens and a block to any attempted assault on Pensacola, was to be the primary target. Starting on the morning of 22 November 1861, Fort McRee was bombarded heavily by Union forces at Fort Pickens, initially returning strong fire, the Confederates were able to hold their own and even managed to heavily damage the Richmond

20.
Fort Barrancas
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The hill-top fort, connected to a sea level water battery, overlooks Pensacola Bay. From 1839–1844, the historic Spanish fort on the hill was reconstructed and this is now termed Fort Barrancas. The older, water battery downhill has been named as Fort San Carlos. It is a remnant from the Spanish fortification, the wooden Fort San Carlos de Barrancas of the late 18th century, due to changing requirements, the U. S. Army deactivated Fort Barrancas on April 15,1947 following World War II. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, the fort was transferred to the control, after extensive restoration during 1971-1980, Fort Barrancas was opened to the public. Fort Barrancas was built on the site of numerous forts, including Fort San Carlos de Austria. It was besieged in 1707 by Indians under the leadership of some English traders. In 1719 French forces captured Pensacola and destroyed the Spanish fort, following Britains defeat of the French in the Seven Years War, in 1763 it exchanged some territory with Spain and took over West Florida. The British used this site as a fortification, building the Royal Navy Redoubt in 1763. More than a later, as enemies of the British. After the war, the Spanish retook control of West Florida and they completed the fort San Carlos de Barrancas in 1797. Barranca is a Spanish word for bluff, the natural feature that makes this location ideal for the fortress. During the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, the fort was the scene of the American victory at the Battle of Pensacola. This was fought between American forces commanded by General Andrew Jackson as well as some Indian allies, and the forces of the British, Spanish. In 1818, the Spanish garrison of the fort exchanged cannon fire with an American battery for a few days, the U. S. force was led by General Jackson. Eventually the Spanish surrendered the fort, leaving Pensacola in American hands, when the United States purchased Florida from Spain in 1821, it selected Pensacola as the site for a major Navy Yard, which was developed around the Spanish Fort Barrancas. In addition, the US developed plans for construction of harbor fortifications to protect this deepwater bay. Fort Pickens was completed on Santa Rosa Island in 1834, Fort Barrancas was reconstructed and expanded with brick between 1839–1844 on its hilltop overlooking the bay

21.
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
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The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20,2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. The US Government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels, after several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on September 19,2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated the site was still leaking. Due to the spill, along with adverse effects from the response and cleanup activities, extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats and fishing. In Louisiana,4.9 million pounds of material was removed from the beaches in 2013. Oil cleanup crews worked four days a week on 55 miles of Louisiana shoreline throughout 2013. Oil continued to be found as far from the Macondo site as the waters off the Florida Panhandle and Tampa Bay, in 2013 it was reported that dolphins and other marine life continued to die in record numbers with infant dolphins dying at six times the normal rate. Numerous investigations explored the causes of the explosion and record-setting spill, notably, the U. S. governments September 2011 report pointed to defective cement on the well, faulting mostly BP, but also rig operator Transocean and contractor Halliburton. BP and the Department of Justice agreed to a record-setting $4.525 billion in fines, as of February 2013, criminal and civil settlements and payments to a trust fund had cost the company $42.2 billion. In September 2014, a U. S. District Court judge ruled that BP was primarily responsible for the oil spill because of its gross negligence and reckless conduct. In July 2015, BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion in fines, the Deepwater Horizon was a 10-year-old semi-submersible, mobile, floating, dynamically positioned drilling rig that could operate in waters up to 10,000 feet deep. Built by South Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries and owned by Transocean, the rig operated under the Marshallese flag of convenience and it was drilling a deep exploratory well,18,360 feet below sea level, in approximately 5,100 feet of water. The well is situated in the Macondo Prospect in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 of the Gulf of Mexico, the Macondo well is located roughly 41 miles off the Louisiana coast. BP was the operator and principal developer of the Macondo Prospect with a 65% share, while 25% was owned by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, and 10% by MOEX Offshore 2007, a unit of Mitsui. At the time,126 crew members were on board, seven BP employees,79 of Transocean, eleven missing workers were never found despite a three-day U. S. Coast Guard search operation and are believed to have died in the explosion. Ninety-four crew were rescued by lifeboat or helicopter,17 of whom were treated for injuries, the Deepwater Horizon sank on the morning of 22 April 2010. The oil leak was discovered on the afternoon of 22 April 2010 when an oil slick began to spread at the former rig site. The oil flowed for 87 days, BP originally estimated a flow rate of 1,000 to 5,000 barrels per day

22.
Tide
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Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth. Some shorelines experience a semi-diurnal tide—two nearly equal high and low tides each day, other locations experience a diurnal tide—only one high and low tide each day. A mixed tide—two uneven tides a day, or one high, Tides vary on timescales ranging from hours to years due to a number of factors. To make accurate records, tide gauges at fixed stations measure water level over time, gauges ignore variations caused by waves with periods shorter than minutes. These data are compared to the level usually called mean sea level. Tidal phenomena are not limited to the oceans, but can occur in other systems whenever a gravitational field varies in time. For example, the part of the Earth is affected by tides. Tide changes proceed via the following stages, Sea level rises over several hours, covering the intertidal zone, the water rises to its highest level, reaching high tide. Sea level falls over several hours, revealing the intertidal zone, the water stops falling, reaching low tide. Oscillating currents produced by tides are known as tidal streams, the moment that the tidal current ceases is called slack water or slack tide. The tide then reverses direction and is said to be turning, slack water usually occurs near high water and low water. But there are locations where the moments of slack tide differ significantly from those of high, Tides are commonly semi-diurnal, or diurnal. The two high waters on a day are typically not the same height, these are the higher high water. Similarly, the two low waters each day are the low water and the lower low water. The daily inequality is not consistent and is small when the Moon is over the equator. From the highest level to the lowest, Highest Astronomical Tide – The highest tide which can be predicted to occur, note that meteorological conditions may add extra height to the HAT. Mean High Water Springs – The average of the two high tides on the days of spring tides, mean High Water Neaps – The average of the two high tides on the days of neap tides. Mean Sea Level – This is the sea level

23.
History of Pensacola, Florida
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The history of Pensacola, Florida begins long before the Spanish claimed founding of the modern city in 1698. The area around present-day Pensacola was inhabited by Native American peoples thousands of years before the historical era, the historical era begins with the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 16th century. In the late 17th century the Spanish returned to the area to found the modern Pensacola as an outpost from which to defend their claims to Spanish Florida. The citys strategic but isolated position, combined with continued European rivalries played out in North America, at different times it was held by the Spanish, the French, the British, the United States, and the Confederate States of America. The city was named after the Panzacola, a tribe that lived across the northern area and this area was first documented as Panzacola in 1686, when a maritime expedition, headed by Juan Enríquez Barroto and Antonio Romero, visited Pensacola Bay in February 1686. Their ensign Juan Jordán de Reina recorded in his diary that Native Americans in the region around Pensacola Bay called the area Panzacola after the Panzacola Indians and he judged the bay as the best that I have ever seen in my life. The original inhabitants of the Pensacola Bay area were Native American peoples, at the time of European contact a Muskogean-speaking tribe known as the Panzacola had been established in the region for centuries. Given the areas advantages, it was frequently a destination for hunting and fishing by Creek people from present-day southern Alabama and they also came to trade with the Pensacola. The best-known Pensacola Culture site in terms of archeology is the Bottle Creek site and this site has at least 18 large earthwork mounds, five of which are arranged around a central plaza, in a pattern typical of many moundbuilding cultures. Its main occupation was from 1250CE to 1550 and it was a ceremonial center for the Pensacola people, and a gateway to their society. This site would have had access by a dugout canoe. The areas recorded history begins in the 16th century, when the first European explorers came there, early exploration of Pensacola Bay spanned decades, with members of expeditions under Pánfilo de Narváez, and Hernando de Soto visiting the area. European exploration of the began in the 16th century. In 1516 Diego Miruelo may have been the first European to sail into Pensacola Bay, the first Spanish settlement expedition in the region was large but short-lived, entering the bay on August 15,1559, and led by Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano. It consisted of some 1,500 people on 11 ships from Vera Cruz and this was the first multi-year European settlement in the territory of what is now the United States. But, weeks later, the colony was decimated by a hurricane on September 19,1559, which killed a number of sailors, sank six ships, grounded a seventh. The survivors struggled to survive, most moving inland to central Alabama for several months in 1560 before returning to the coast, some of the survivors eventually sailed to Santa Elena, but another storm hit there. Survivors made their way to Cuba and finally returned to Pensacola, the Viceroys advisers later concluded that northwest Florida was too dangerous to settle

24.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

25.
Apalachicola Bay
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Apalachicola Bay is an estuary and lagoon located on the northwest coast of the U. S. state of Florida. The Apalachicola Bay system also includes St. George Sound, St. Vincent Sound and East Bay, covering an area of about 208 square miles. Four islands St. Vincent Island to the west, Cape St. George Island and St. George Island to the south, water exchange occurs through Indian Pass, West Pass, East Pass and the Duer Channel. The lagoon has been designated as a National Estuarine Research Reserve, the region features 1,162 species of plants, and includes the largest natural stand of tupelo trees in the world. The Apalachicola Bay produces 90 percent of Florida’s oysters, Apalachicola Bay is part of The National Estuarine Research Reserve System. Apalachicola U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Apalachicola Bay Apalachicola River Watershed - Florida DEP Oyster Rules for Apalachicola Bay

26.
Biscayne Bay
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Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts, North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay and its area is 428 square miles. The drainage basin covers 938 square miles, discovered by Ponce de Leon, he landed there and was originally named Santa Marta. The North Bay of the Biscayne Bay lies between Miami Beach barrier island and Miami on the mainland, however, water quality has steadily improved since regular monitoring began in 1979. North Bay accounts for only 10% of the area of the bay. Central Bay is the largest part of the bay and it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Safety Valve. It has been adversely affected primarily by bulkheading, urban runoff discharged by canals, South Bay is nearly as large as Central Bay, and is the least affected by human activities, although it also suffers from the loss of natural fresh water flow. South Bay is separated from the Straits of Florida by the northernmost of the Florida Keys and it is connected to Florida Bay through a few small channels. Construction began on July 22,1912, although the cost of the project was initially $75,000, the construction project faced delays and cost overruns. The budge was partially completed in 1913, the bridge was hailed as the longest wooden vehicle bridge in the world, and opened up the area as a luxury winter resort and playground. The bridge terminated at the Dixie Highway, built by Carl G. Fisher, the bridge was a toll bridge, in 1920, the toll was reduced from 20 cents each way to 15 cents one way. The bridge was torn down in 1925 and replaced with the more substantial Venetian Causeway the next year, in 1925, Biscayne Point was created in Miami Beachs north end. In 1929, a third causeway crossed Biscayne Bay at Normandy Isle, the Julia Tuttle Causeway was built in 1959. Other causeways are the John F. Kennedy and Broad causeways, the Card Sound Bridge connects the mainland in the Homestead, Florida area to the northern part of Key Largo. In 1975, the bay was designated as an aquatic preserve. The aquatic preserve spans the entirety of Biscayne Bay from Oleta River in the north to Card Sound in the south, with the exception of the part of the bay. A second preserve was added off of Cape Florida on Key Biscayne. These two preserves are now managed by the state of Florida under the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserves, seven remaining houses of Biscayne Bays Stiltsville settlement are now within the boundaries of this National Park which was established in 1980

27.
Choctawhatchee Bay
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Choctawhatchee Bay is a bay in the Emerald Coast region of the Florida Panhandle. The bay, located within Okaloosa and Walton counties, has an area of 129 mi2. It is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, connected to it through East Pass and it also connects to Santa Rosa Sound in Fort Walton Beach, Florida to the west and to St. Andrews Bay in Bay County to the east, via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. East Pass is the outlet of the bay flowing directly into the Gulf of Mexico. The Choctawhatchee River flows into it, as do several smaller rivers, the Mid-Bay Bridge crosses the bay, connecting the city of Destin to Niceville, Florida. The bay was charted by Spanish, French, and English expeditions, several towns and cities are located on Choctawhatchee Bay, Fort Walton Beach Destin Freeport Niceville Shalimar Valparaiso

28.
Estero Bay (Florida)
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Estero Bay, Florida, is an estuary located on the west coast of the state southeast of Fort Myers Beach. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is long and very shallow, Estero Bay is bordered on the west by a chain of barrier islands, Estero Island, Long Key, Lovers Key, Black Island, Big Hickory Island, and Little Hickory Island. Four outlets give access to the Gulf of Mexico, Matanzas Pass, Big Carlos Pass, New Pass, incorporated places on the bay include Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach and the unincorporated area of Estero. Two rivers, the Imperial River and the Estero River bring freshwater into the estuary, tides play a major role in the functionality of the plant, crustaceans, mammals and fish in the area. In December 1966, the half of Estero Bay was designated as the states first aquatic preserve. The southern half of the bay was added to the preserve during the 1983 Florida Legislature session, south Florida Water Management District - Department of Environmental Protection - Florida The Road Atlas 06, Rand McNally, pg.27 Map of Estero Bay Aquatic Preserve Estero Bay Tide Charts

29.
Florida Bay
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Florida Bay is the bay located between the southern end of the Florida mainland and the Florida Keys in the United States. Encompassing roughly one-third of Everglades National Park, its area is variously stated to be 800 square miles, or 850 square miles, nearly all of Florida Bay is included in Everglades National Park. The southern edge, along the Florida Keys is in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the bay muds of portions of Florida Bay have been cored to develop insights on the paleontology of previous biota. It has basins with banks in between which are fishing grounds. The fish caught there are mangrove snapper, mackerel, and various others, Florida Bay used to be teeming with Roseate Spoonbills nesting and other birds and even American Flamingos used to be reported nesting, and the fishing excellent. However, due to runoff of agriculture there are expanding dead zones in the bay, creating algae blooms on which bacteria feed, grow. Further microbes thrive in this oxygen free environment, but produce toxic gases where nothing grows, fish and crustaceans leave, and the birds leave having no food source. Canals divert water to the Eastern coast that originally went to Taylor Slough that brought freshwater to the bay through Everglades National Park, without the freshwater, the water becomes stagnant and salty with excess nitrogen from the fertilizer. Media related to Florida Bay at Wikimedia Commons U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Florida Bay

30.
Perdido Bay
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Perdido Bay is a bay at the mouth of and draining the Perdido River, a designated Outstanding Florida Waters river, in Baldwin County, Alabama and Escambia County, Florida, United States. It is essentially a coastal lagoon enclosed by barrier islands, with an inlet, Perdido Bay lies east of the Alabama communities of Orange Beach and Lillian. It lies west of the Florida communities of Pensacola and Perdido Key, ono Island and the mouth of the bay are within Alabama territory. The Florida border crosses Florida Point and the islands just east of Alabama Point and Perdido Pass. Perdido Pass also provides access from Perdido Bay to the Intracoastal Waterway. Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the entrance to Perdido Pass was closed, with a system in June 2010. The daily high tide was causing oil-contaminated water to enter Perdido Bay

31.
Ponce de Leon Bay
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Ponce de Leon Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern Florida in the United States. The bay is located in Monroe County at the end of Cape Sable in the Everglades National Park. Ponce de Leon Bay leads into Oyster Bay to the east, the bay lies between Northwest Cape and Shark Point. It is named after Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish explorer who was the first recorded European to reach Florida, the Road Atlas 06, Rand McNally, pg.27

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Sarasota Bay
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Sarasota Bay is a lagoon located off the west coast of Florida in the United States. Its source of freshwater has been increased from historical levels by urban runoff. The bay and its surrounding area appeared on the earliest maps of the area, hunting in the area had supported native populations for more than ten thousand years as Florida attracted some of the earliest human settlements in the hemisphere. The bay lies between barrier islands called keys, that separate the body of water from the Gulf of Mexico, longboat Key, Lido Key, Siesta Key, and Casey Key are the major keys that delineate the main bay and its smaller portions. Since 1921, when Sarasota County was created, the bay lies in areas governed both by Manatee County and Sarasota County, after Florida became an American state in 1845, large counties were carved up from time to time, to form new and smaller counties. From 1855 to 1921 the bay was governed by Manatee County, governance prior to that has been Spanish, French, English, and during the Civil War, Florida was Confederate. The concept of governance of natural resources did not exist among the American Indians who harvested the bounty of Sarasota Bay for thousands of years without diminishing it, ecotourism based on kayak trips is gaining in popularity in Sarasota Bay. Guided kayak trips take kayakers on a tour of the local ecosystem, kayakers can watch dolphins breach and manatees eat sea grass, in shallow bay water

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St. Andrews Bay (Florida)
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St. Andrews Bay, officially named St. Andrew Bay, is a bay located in Bay County in the panhandle of Florida. It is a 69,000 acre estuary located in northwest Florida and it is relatively deep, and of relatively high salinity due to the low freshwater inflow provided by only a few spring-fed creeks. The county seat of Bay County, Panama City, is located on the bay, the Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay Railway, which ran from Panama City to Dothan, Alabama, was also named for the bay. St. Andrews Bay was the location of a number of saltworks critical for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. The shallow draft of the steamboat allowed her to go up inlets where other, deeper draft vessels had been unable to travel, wild dolphin are commonly seen in the waters of St. Andrews Bay, they are easily spotted when the waters are smooth in the mornings. In shallower waters, St. Andrews Bay is known for vast schools of mullet, red fish, occasionally a manatee is spotted in the bay as well

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Tampa Bay
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Much greater care has been taken in recent decades to mitigate the effects of human habitation on Tampa Bay, and water quality has slowly improved over time. The term Tampa Bay is sometimes used as shorthand to refer to all or parts of the Tampa Bay area, local marketing and branding efforts commonly use the moniker Tampa Bay, furthering the misconception that it is the name of a particular municipality when this is not the case. Approximately 6,000 years ago, Tampa Bay formed as a drowned river valley type estuary with a wide mouth connecting it to the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to that time, it was a fresh water lake. Tampa Bay is Floridas largest open-water estuary, extending over 400 square miles and forming coastlines of Hillsborough, Manatee, the freshwater sources of the bay are distributed among over a hundred small tributaries, rather than a single river. The Hillsborough River is the largest such source, with the Alafia, Manatee. Because of these many flows into the bay, its watershed covers portions of five Florida counties. The bay bottom is silty and sandy, with a water depth of only about 12 feet. Tampa Bays shallow waters, sea grass beds, mud flats, the cooler months are also when warm-water outfalls from power plants bordering the bay draw one out of every six West Indian manatees, an endangered species, to the area. Tampa Bay has been designated an Estuary of National Significance by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, two National Wildlife Refuges are located in Tampa Bay, Pinellas National Wildlife Refuge and the refuge on Egmont Key. Most of the islands and sandbars are off-limits to the public, due to their fragile ecology, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program keeps watch over the Bays health. Humans have lived in Florida for millennia, at least 14,000 years, due to worldwide glaciation, sea levels were much lower at the time, and Floridas peninsula extended almost 60 miles west of todays coastline. Paleo-Indian sites have been found near rivers and lakes in northern Florida, evidence of human habitation from this early period has been found at the Harney Flats site, which is approximately 10 miles east of the current location of Tampas downtown waterfront. This culture, which relied almost exclusively on the bay for food, the Safety Harbor culture was dominant in the area at the time of first contact with Europeans in the mid-1500s. However, there were many other coastal villages organized into small chiefdoms all around the bay. Not finding gold or silver in the vicinity and unable to covert the native inhabitants to Christianity, however, diseases they introduced decimated the native population over the ensuing decades, leading to the near-total collapse of every established culture across peninsular Florida. Between this depopulation and the indifference of its owners, the Tampa Bay region would be virtually uninhabited for almost 200 years. Tampa Bay was given different names by early mapmakers, Spanish maps dated from 1584 identifies Tampa Bay as Baya de Spirito Santo

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Whitewater Bay
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Whitewater Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern Florida in the United States. The bay is located entirely within Monroe County north of Cape Sable in the Everglades National Park, whitewater Bay leads into Oyster Bay to the west, then Ponce de Leon Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. The Road Atlas 06, Rand McNally, pg.27

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Baker's Haulover Inlet
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Bakers Haulover Inlet is a man-made channel in Miami-Dade County, Florida connecting the northern end of Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean, at coordinates 25°53′59″N 80°07′26″W. The inlet was cut in 1925 through a point in the sand between the cities of Bal Harbour and Sunny Isles. It is the location of a nude beach, recreation areas. A fixed bridge carries SR A1A across the inlet, the name is reported to have appeared on maps as early as 1823. There is a State of Florida Historical Landmark Marker at the original Lighthouse Dock site dedicated on February 21,2004 and it is the only marker in the State of Florida for a fishing dock

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Lake Worth Inlet
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It is bordered by the town of Palm Beach on the south, and by the town of Palm Beach Shores to the north. The inlet is also the channel for the Port of Palm Beach. In the mid-19th century the body of water that is now the Lake Worth Lagoon was a fresh water lake and this had been named Lake Worth in honor of William J. Worth, commander of the Eighth Infantry Regiment in the Second Seminole War. There were no rivers or streams flowing into the lake, all of the flow into the lake was by ground seepage from the Everglades to the west. The only outflow from the lake was through a swamp that became the Lake Worth Creek as it approached the Loxahatchee River and Jupiter Inlet. In 1866 travelers reported that water was pouring out of the lake into the ocean at a point about ten miles south of the Jupiter Inlet. One report is that a settler named Lang had dug the channel to open an inlet and this cut drained the lake down to sea level. The limited inflow of water through the inlet and continued seepage of fresh water from the Everglades kept the lake from becoming more than mildly brackish. The inlet tended to silt up, and had to be dug out again every few months. In 1877 the settlers around the lake decided to dig a new inlet at a point about a mile north of Langs Inlet where a formation called the Black Rocks would provide some protection for the inlet. The point chosen on the island was only about 300 feet wide. All of the work was done with axes, shovels, hoes and it took 20 men several weeks to dig the new inlet. The new inlet served its purpose well. The inlet tended to migrate south, however, with the current wearing away at the southern bank, by 1886 the inlet had migrated about a mile south of the Black Rocks, and closed up during a storm. An inlet was again dug through just south of the Black Rocks, in 1893 Henry Flagler, who would complete construction of his Florida East Coast Railway to West Palm Beach in 1894, had the inlet enlarged. The federal government turned down a request to improve the inlet in 1912, in 1915 the Florida Legislature chartered the Lake Worth Inlet District. The site of the original Langs Inlet was chosen for the new inlet, the old inlet at the Black Rocks was still open. A community of fishermen from the Bahamas had settled on the island just north of the Black Rocks

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Matanzas Inlet
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Matanzas Inlet is a channel in Florida between barrier islands connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the south end of the Matanzas River. It is 14 miles south of St. Augustine, in the part of St. Johns County. The inlet is not stabilized by jetties, and thus is subject to shifting, historic maps made by Spanish military engineers in the 18th century show that the inlet today has moved many hundreds of yards south of its location during the time of the Spanish Empire. In 1740, a British invasion force from Fort Frederica, Georgia blockaded this inlet, the southernmost access for boat travel between St. Augustine and Havana, Cuba. Shortly thereafter, in 1742, a stone tower 50 feet square by 30 feet high. René Goulaine de Laudonnière founded Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, in 1564, in response to the French encroachment on what Spain regarded as its territory, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565. Menéndez de Avilés quickly set out to attack Fort Caroline, traveling overland from St. Augustine, at the same time, the French sailed from Fort Caroline, intending to attack St. Augustine from the sea. The Spanish overwhelmed the lightly defended Fort Caroline, sparing only the women and children, the French fleet was driven off course by a storm, and many of the ships wrecked on the coast south of St. Augustine. When the Spanish found the group of the French shipwreck survivors. The location became known as Matanzas

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Ponce de Leon Inlet
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The Ponce de Leon Inlet is a natural opening in the barrier islands in central Florida that connects the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon and the south end of the Halifax River to the Atlantic Ocean. The inlet originally was named Mosquito Inlet, in 1926 the Florida Legislature changed the name from Mosquito Inlet to Ponce de Leon Inlet. There was precedent for the change, Mosquito County had long before become Orange County, and the Mosquito River had become the Halifax River. Only the Mosquito Lagoon has kept its old name and it is the site of the town of Ponce Inlet, Florida and the Ponce de Leon Inlet Light. The inlet is maintained by the Ponce de Leon Inlet & Port District, Ponce de Leon Inlet & Port District U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Ponce de Leon Inlet

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Sebastian Inlet
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Sebastian Inlet, located in Sebastian Inlet State Park in Brevard County, Florida and Indian River County, Florida, offers surfing and fishing opportunities. It is off State Road A1A just 12 miles north of Vero Beach, there are annual surf tournaments, professional and amateur. Visitors fish there, particularly for Snook and Redfish, the Inlet is managed by a commission popularly elected by voters from the surrounding area. It was orchestrated by David Peter Gibson, although Gibson first dug a cut at Sebastian in 1872 he did not acquire title to the property where the digging took place until May,1885. Gibsons Cut, as his inlet was known then, appears as a feature in a U. S. National Geodetic Survey map drawn in the winter of 1880-81. In the July 28,1886 edition of the Florida Star letter writer G. W. Idner reports that talk was once again circulating about re-opening Gibsons Cut, Idner names some of those who worked on the first cut as The Gibson and Houston boys. And also Charley Creech and several others, Idner was an early settler of Tillman, now Palm Bay. He was also involved with Gibsons first efforts to open a cut, discussion about opening Gibsons Cut in 1886 never amounted to anything more than just talk although a commonly held misconception has been that this was the year it was first dug. When faced with foreclosure on the island property that held his cut, he transferred title to his son, Quinn. At the time of D. P. Gibsons first effort the barrier island was about 260 feet wide at the cut site and it widened considerably over the years as efforts to open an inlet continued. During the summer of 1891 the second attempt to open an Inlet at Sebastian took place, by that time the barrier island had grown to be 450 feet wide at the cut site. This would indicate that several other efforts had been mounted since 1872 although no records of these attempts have yet been found, some of the folks involved with the 1891 effort were Nesbitt. Harris and Williamson Micco Knight, Gibson, Eason, Jacobs and Mitchell all of Sebastian. They formed the St. Sebastian Inlet Association but they never succeeded in opening the inlet although they spent considerable money, an 1892 article read as follows, Col. D. P. Gibson will make a success of it. There is no indication that any work actually went on at the cut site that year, in 1897 some winter residents of Brevard county made the third effort to open the inlet. It was the most ambitious so far, in that year The Roseland Inlet Corporation was formed to open an inlet to the sea at Gibsons Cut. The Corporations Board of Directors included Alice P. Hudson, William W. Bissell, Henri J. Van Zelm, Harry Todd and Thomas S. Drake all of New Rochelle, Bissell was a wealthy banker and all of the others were well-to-do friends and associates of his. Thomas S. Drake was a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, Harry Todds father was James W. Todd who was a member of the Board of Directors at Bissells bank. He purchased the entire Fleming Grant in 1892 for $5,050 when it was sold at a Sheriffs sale for taxes owed and he paid 25 cents and acre

Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the …

In Maine (U.S.) low tide occurs roughly at moonrise and high tide with a high moon, corresponding to the simple gravity model of two tidal bulges; at most places however, moon and tides have a phase shift.

Earliest known detailed map of Tampa Bay, by Don Francisco Maria Celi of the Spanish Royal Fleet, 1757. Map is oriented with east at the top. Pinellas peninsula is at bottom, Tampa peninsula in middle, Hillsborough River shown extending into the interior at top left

The Halifax River is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, located in northeast Volusia County, Florida. The …

A view of the Halifax River southbound from the Seabreeze Bridge, Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida. Three other bridges can be seen from this vista: Main Street Bridge (closest), Broadway Bridge, and Veterans Memorial Bridge. Two boat marinas can be seen to the right.